Month: January 2025

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 20-26, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Welcome back to NARDB’s weekly Major League Rugby Off-Season Player Movement Summary Series. On a weekly basis, this series dives deeper into every single roster move announced by teams during the MLR Off-Season. This particular article covers the moves from January 20th to 26th, 2025.

Pre-Season camps are in full swing for all 11 MLR teams, with under 3 weeks to go until the 2025 season kicks off on February 15th. This didn’t stop one team from dominating last week’s summary. It seems hard to believe that the team hadn’t finalised these deals months ago, but maybe they forgot the announcements, and only remembered when these players reported. As always, this article will start with the summary graphic, before diving into the re-signings:

Summary of Player Movement Around MLR: January 20-26, 2025 (1 of 1)

Re-Signings

Last week’s busiest team was easily the Utah Warriors. Warriors fans seem to have largely recovered from the early off-season announcement of 17 departing players, and are looking forward to see the team take a step forward in 2025. The return of the team’s all-time top scorer and former captain, Joel Hodgson, will make taking that step forward significantly easier. The English ex-Newcastle Falcons Fly-half has appeared in all 32 games the Warriors have played since 2023, starting all but 1 of them. He finished 3rd in MLR scoring last season with 111pts in 16 games (15 starts) and a 65% success rate from the tee. After only 2 seasons in MLR, Hodgson already sits 12th all-time in terms of scoring with 233pts, and will no doubt be looking to break into the Top 10 in 2025.

Trade Targets

Along with announcing the return of their franchise points scorer, the Utah Warriors started the week with a Western Conference Trade with the San Diego Legion. The Legion acquired wing/center Alesana Pohla from the Utah Warriors in exchange for 2025 Cap Space. Unfortunately, as with all MLR trades the exact amount of Cap Space that the Utah Warriors received in this deal isn’t publically known, nor is the Salary Cap itself. Maybe one day. Alesana Pohla made his MLR debut for the Warriors in 2024, and started two of his 6 MLR games that season, amassing just shy of 200m gained in possession. He does not qualify as a domestic player just yet, so this may limit his game time with the Legion, but he certainly proved an effective runner with the Warriors last season.

Source: MLR Trade Wire

New Faces

The Utah Warriors were going for the full set last week. In addition to a re-signing and a trade, they also announced the addition of a pair of new players, one of which is a familiar name to MLR fans, and one will be enjoying his debut MLR season in 2025. The familiar name, especially for Dallas Jackals fans, is Ronnie McElligott. The Californian back row was drafted 32nd overall out of St. Mary’s College in 2023 by the Dallas Jackals, and earned 7 MLR appearances off the bench during his debut MLR season. McElligott was not selected in the Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft shortly after their withdrawal from MLR, but the Warriors sign the former SMC Gael for his sophomore season in the league. The new face who will enjoy his debut MLR season in 2025 is Amulone ‘Lone’ Ika. Born in Utah so will count as a domestic player, Ika was raised in Tonga where he represented the Tonga U20s in 2014. He has had two stints in the Australian Shute Shield with the Western Sydney Two Blues, and in between, was coaching and playing in Utah. Ika is currently serving as assistant coach for the Utah Valley University rugby side.

There was another new face confirmed to be joining MLR for 2025, but this one is not without it’s share of controversy. The Houston SaberCats announced the signing of capped Scotland winger Rufus McLean for their 2025 campaign. The 24yo winger has earned 3 caps for Scotland, and scored a pair of tries on his test debut against Tonga in October 2021 after coming up through the Glasgow Warriors system. McLean’s contract with the Glasgow Warriors was terminated in 2023 however, and here is where the controversy comes in. That same year, McLean admitted, and was convicted of, domestic abuse against his girlfriend, for which he was issued a 10-year non-harassment order and sentenced to 120 hours of community service. Since then, Scotland, the Glasgow Warriors, and all other European clubs have steered clear of the once-promising winger. Usually this would (and should) kill a career, but McLean has the benefit of having been born in Boston, keeping the door open to play in the United States. The American Raptors announced the signing of McLean for their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season, in a move that was met with a poor reception. Since the Raptors are not playing professional rugby in 2025, McLean turned his attention to MLR, where the Houston SaberCats have picked him up. Concerningly for ‘Cats fans, they have a history of signing controversial figures. Former LSU football player Drake Davis represented them in 2024, and Jeremy Misailegalu has played for them for the past two seasons (although Missile’s controversy is a different situation that merits a second chance). It is the view of NARDB that a player with a recent history like Rufus McLean should not be given the opportunity to play professional sports considering what we know, but everyone deserves a second chance. The question that MLR fans should be asking the SaberCats (and for that matter, the Raptors before them), is: What has McLean done to prove that he is worthy of a second chance, other than being born in the USA?

Departures

Among the Utah Warriors’ busy week was a departure that likely went under the radar for many MLR fans, perhaps even among a large chunk of Old Glory DC fans, who may not even know the player in question, despite playing with the team in 2024. Kevin Brou is a US-eligble front row from the Ivory Coast who was signed by the Flags for their 2024 Campaign, but suffered a broken leg in the pre-season and was sidelined for the entire year. FCY, in the French 6th tier the Fédérale 2, announced the signing of Brou for their 2024/25 season way back in September, but thanks to Bryan Ray on Twitter, MLR audiences are learning about this move now. Marking an end to Brou’s unfortunate stint in MLR, at least for now.

Anthem RC Finally Break the Silence

After what feels like months of MLR’s newest team, Anthem RC, being the only team not announcing players for their 2025 season, the MLR, USA Rugby and World Rugby partnership team finally unveiled their full 37 man roster on January 21st. This is two whole weeks into pre-season camp. The team has been publishing numerous images from training sessions, but as they had made no effort to market any of their players, fans had little to no clue who was in said pictures. As mentioned, Anthem RC is a partnership between MLR, USA Rugby, and World Rugby to usher in the next era of USA Eagles ahead of their home (mens) Rugby World Cup in 2031, and as such their primary goal may not be to make a profit as it might be for other teams around the league (NARDB is aware that as of the date this article was published, no team is making a profit), but if these players are on the shortlist to represent the National Team, then market them. A few days before the team announced the roster, they announced that Patrick Stack has been appointed the first team president, with the mission of ‘focusing on revenue generation’ among other things, so hopefully this changes. To not announce a single player before the third week of pre-season camp is ridiculous. Rosters should be finalised and made public prior to January 1st.

To finally get to the Anthem RC roster itself, it was largely as expected. Despite the paragraph above, it’s still the MLR and as we know, MLR has more leaks than a sieve. There are a few notable departures from their 2024 roster, such as top try scorer and MLR veteran Te Rangatira Waitokia, 2023 San Diego Legion draftee Tyren Al-Jiboori, and USA Sevens star David Still, but the team added lots of young talent as well as a number of USA Eagles with significant MLR experience in the likes of Mitch Wilson, Conner Mooneyham, and Sam Golla, as well as five of their six 2024 draftees. They picked up a number of players from the Dallas Jackals when they withdrew from MLR, as well as the Jackals Head Coach Agustin Cavalieri, who is serving as Anthem RC Assistant Coach in 2025. While it’s unlikely that Anthem will challenge for the Shield in 2024, they’re primed to take a big step in the right direction, and the key question is: How long before their first MLR victory?

In Conclusion

Judging from the previous few weeks, it is likely that we can expect a few more announcements out of the Utah Warriors, but as we move into February the moves will get fewer and further between, apart from perhaps the odd last minute trade. These weekly articles will continue as long as there are moves to discuss, but NARDB will be shifting it’s focus to pre-season preparation which will include fact files on each MLR team in the coming days.

As always, you can follow NARDB and James across social media to stay up to date on signings as they happen. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky! Also, we’re happy to have Rugby Now back for the 2025 season! Visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new Macron gear for 2025, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 13-19, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

We’re now two weeks into pre-season camps and eagle-eyed Major League Rugby fans are scouring the teams’ social media posts to catch a glimpse of unannounced players prepping for the 2025 MLR season, which kicks off in under 4 weeks! This series of articles will add detail to every player announcement from the previous week, and this particular article will cover the movement between January 13th and January 19th, 2025.

As with the last few weeks, Player Announcements have really slowed down now that the season is fast approaching and players have already reported to their teams. We will start, as usual, with the summary graphic but as you will see, there were only a handful of announcements. Thankfully, the Seattle Seawolves revealed their complete 2025 roster, which this article will also cover and point out some important inclusions or omissions. Let’s dive in with the graphic:

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 13-19, 2025 (1 of 1)

Re-Signings

Having announced the vast majority of their roster way back in November, the San Diego Legion added another returnee when they confirmed the return of capped USA Eagle Tevita Tameilau for his 6th season in California and 7th in MLR in 2025. Tameilau has proved himself a ferocious ball carrier, gaining over 500m for the last four seasons in a row, including a career high of 1,065m gained in 2022. Tameilau passed 3,000m gained in his career in 2024, and is within touching distance of 500 tackles. He scored his 10th MLR try in 2024 and brought his total appearances up to 70 (53 starts).

The rest of last week’s re-signings were from the Utah Warriors, also in the Western Conference. The Warriors announced a trio of returnees for their 2025 campaign. The Warriors will have Tuvere Vugakoto back for a 6th season at Zion’s Bank. The Fijian hooker has 8 tries in 50 MLR games for Utah since 2020, starting 29 times and amassing over 850m gained and 283 tackles completed. Also returning to the forward pack is 2024 Utah Warriors Pathway Player of the Year Kalisi Moli. Moli started 4 of his 12 appearances during his debut MLR season in 2024, completing 67 tackles and running for 169m gained. Moving to the back line, Canadian U20 scrumhalf Sam Reimer is back for a 3rd MLR season, and 2nd with the Warriors. Reimer played with the Toronto Arrows in 2022 before spending a year in New Zealand, and joining the Utah Warriors ahead of the 2024 season. He has 7 MLR appearances in his career to date and will be looking for his first start in 2025.

New Faces and Confirmed Rosters

Last week saw just the one new addition for 2025, and it was for the Utah Warriors, who were responsible for 4 of the 5 player announcements from last week. The Warriors announced the signing of New Zealand winger Blake Makiri for the 2025 season. The 22yo Auckland native joins from Counties Manukau in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC), where he’s been playing since 2022.

After a busy first few months of the off-season, the Seattle Seawolves had been relatively quiet for the last few months. However, last week they revealed their complete roster for their 2025 campaign, generating some interesting questions.

First off, there was some confusion among fans about what criteria they actually used to determine the flags beside each name. Having the nationality of players is an excellent addition, but there are some strange decisions from the Seawolves. For example, the Union Jack is used beside Huw Taylor’s name. Taylor is British, born in England with strong ties to Wales, but the Union Jack was not used for Dave Busby, who is Northern Irish…which is a part of the United Kingdom. Additionally, neither Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom are rugby nations. Northern Irish players play for Ireland alongside players from the Republic of Ireland, and the rest of the UK compete as England, Scotland, and Wales. It is possible that this was the preferrence of each player, but it is an odd choice for rugby. This graphic also mislead a lot of fans who claimed that the Seawolves squad only had a small amount of domestic players (from the US or Canada), but that is not the case. Riekert Hattingh and JP Smith both had just the South African flag beside their names, but are capped USA Eagles, for example. Ina Futi and Pago Haini are from American Samoa, which does have it’s own rugby team but they play sporadically. American Samoans are also US-eligible as the islands are a US territory. Toni Pulu has two flags beside his name, why couldn’t other players? Some fans thought the flag choice might be country of birth, but Canadian Dewald Kotze was born in South Africa, and Toni Pulu was actually born in the US, also making him a domestic player. As mentioned, the flags beside player names is a great addition, but in this case it’s confusing and misleading.

Now, let’s dig into the meat of the roster: The Players. It is excellent to see MLR Great Riekert Hattingh back in the lineup after injury curtailed his 2024 season. He can now resume the try-scoring competition with Chicago’s Dylan Fawsitt, and will likely become just the 2nd player in league history to reach 50 tries scored (currently on 42). The same applies to the likes of Devin Short and Charles Elton, who were also badly hit with injury last season, the return of these three to the Seawolves backline is a fearsome slight. Also on the roster is Calvin Liulamaga, who was selected 11th overall by the Seawolves in the 2024 MLR Collegiate Draft out of Central Washington University. Liulamaga is the only one of Seattle’s four 2024 draftees to be included on their 2025 roster.

Moving to the omissions, mentioned just above weas the fact that three of the Seattle Seawolves’ draftees did not make their MLR roster. It’s possible they are playing in the area and we may see them if injuries happen, however. Some big omissions include 2022 Shield Winner Kara Pryor, who missed most of 2024 with injury, and fellow ex-Ironworker Monate Akuei, who made an impact in the back half of the 2024 season. Neither Pryor or Akuei qualify as domestic players yet. On the subject of international players, the Seawolves have a completely new flyhalf pairing in 2025 with the additions of ex-NOLA Gold 10 Rodney Iona, and South African Eddie Fouché. This means that Mack Mason, who finished with 2 tries and 172pts in 2024 will not be returning, neither will all-time MLR points leader Sam Windsor, who added 3 tries and 42pts to take his total to an enormous 595pts. This will be the first MLR season without the great Sam Windsor. Also not returning for Seattle are the likes of USA Eagles Tavita Lopeti (San Diego Legion) and Conner Mooneyham (Anthem RC), as well as MLR veterans Olive Kilifi and Kellen Gordon, and rugby veteran Tevita Kuridrani to name just a few. A full roster review of the Seattle Seawolves, and all MLR teams, will be posted to social media prior to the 2025 season kicking off in February.

In Conclusion

A quieter week around MLR in terms of player moves, because the vast majority of rosters are set and ready for kick off on February 15th. We finally heard a peep out of Anthem RC in regards to their roster, and are expecting that to be revealed on Tuesday, January 21st. This is the third week of pre-season camp and is far far too late for a roster reveal, but it is better than nothing. As for individual players, we may see the odd announcement here and there, but this will probably be only about half a dozen players from now until the season begins.

As always, you can follow NARDB and James across social media to stay up to date on signings as they happen. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky! Also, we’re happy to have Rugby Now back for the 2025 season! Visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new Macron gear for 2025, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: January 6-12, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

The long, dark Major League Rugby off-season is coming to an end, and players are reporting to pre-season training camps all around the league. But which players? This series of articles jumps into all of the player movement around MLR from the previous week. This week’s article covers the week from January 6th to January 12th, 2025, the first full week in a new year.

As mentioned, Pre-season training camps have opened across the league, and teams are beginning to publish content of their players in action. This content can be telling, as every year there are players photographed that we have heard nothing about over the off-season. This season, we still haven’t heard a peep out of Anthem RC, but the team is posting photos. If they don’t publish a roster soon, these photos will be all we have to go on for their 2025 squad! As always, we begin the article with a summary graphic, before diving into what could be the final few re-signings of the off-season.

MLR Player Move Summary: January 6-12, 2025 (1 of 2)

Final Wave of Re-Signings

Following the eyebrow-raising announcement from the Utah Warriors of a huge chunk of departing players ahead of the 2025 season, the Warriors seem to have calmed the heart rates of their fans with some strong additions, and bringing back stand-outs from their 2024 campaign. One of these returning stand-outs is Frank Lochore. The Kiwi forward, who can play across the back row, or as a lock, was one of only two players to record over 200 tackles completed in 2024, finishing 2nd league-wide with 221 (behind Old Glory DC’s Cory Daniel in first). He started all 16 games for Utah in 2024, scoring 5 tries on offence to round out a fantastic debut season in North America. Alongside Lochore, Warriors stalwart and capped USA Eagle Joe Mano will be returning for his 5th season with the team. With 2,882m gained in his career so far, and 25 tries scored in his 38 MLR games (33 starts) for Utah since 2021, Mano provides the Warriors with a significant scoring threat. He currently sits tied for 9th all-time in tries scored and will look to climb higher in 2025.

As with the previous few weeks, the majority of re-signings last week belonged to the NOLA Gold, who concluded their 2025 roster announcements with the return of seven back rowers, including three former MLR draftees still working towards their MLR debuts, and three NOLA Gold veterans. Idaho native Abe Turpen returns for a second season in New Orleans after the Gold traded for him from the Utah Warriors in May 2024. The multi-sport athlete plays flanker on the rugby field and was selected in the 2nd round, 22nd Overall, by the Warriors in 2023. He will look to make his MLR debut in 2025. Another member of the 2023 MLR Collegiate Draft Class is returning for the Gold in Cian Darling. The Irishman was drafted 7th overall by the Gold out of Lindenwood University, and becomes US-eligible in 2025 on residency grounds. Along with a pair from the 2023 Draft Class, 6th Overall pick in 2022 Chase Jones returns for a 3rd MLR season. Jones played with the NOLA Gold academy side in 2023 where he suffered an achilles injury that ruled him out for the entire 2023 MLR season, with the long rehabilitation also sidelining him for the 2024 season. He, like Darling and Turpen, will look to finally earn his MLR debut in 2025.

As well as three MLR Draftees, the NOLA Gold confirm the return of regular MLR starters including 2024 stand-out Jonah Mau’u, who returns for a second MLR season in 2025. The kiwi back row completed 134 tackles in his debut season in North America, running for well over 800m gained and scoring 6 tries in 12 games (all starts) for NOLA. Alongside the impressive Mau’u will be Gold regular Malcolm May, back for his 7th season with NOLA. May has 57 appearances for the Gold since 2019, starting 40 times including a career high 15 in his 16 games in 2024, where he scored a career high 3 tries to take his total to 6. On the subject of NOLA Gold regulars, the Tonga’uiha brothers are also back in the Big Easy. Osi Tonga’uiha returns for a 6th season after a career high 9 appearances in 2024, taking his career appearances to 18 while his brother, capped USA Eagle Moni Tonga’uiha, is back for an 8th year. Moni Tonga’uiha captained the Gold through their best-ever 2024 season and is their most capped player, with 70 starts in his 88 appearances since 2018 putting him 5th all-time. The Oakland, CA native has 11 tries and a huge 4,157m gained in possession, with just shy of 800 tackles completed (789). He has recorded over 125 tackles in each of the last 4 seasons, including a career high of 176 in 2022.

MLR Player Move Summary: January 6-12, 2025 (2 of 2)

‘New’ Faces

Last week saw a number of former American Raptors either enter MLR for the first time, or return to the league after a season away. This is likely due to the news that the Raptors would not be playing pro rugby in 2025, and players are turning to the only other professional option in the US, Major League Rugby. The Chicago Hounds announced the signing of a pair of former Raptors, starting with prop Koby Baker, who played with the Raptors during their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season, before joining the Seattle Seawolves for their playoff stretch. Baker earned 5 MLR appearances for the Seawolves and came off the bench in all three playoff games, including the Championship Game where Seattle fell to the New England Free Jacks. Baker had been playing with the Hounds academy side during their 2024 Fall season alongside fellow former Raptor Tavius Sykora-Matthess, who also earns a MLR contract with Chicago for the 2025 season. The 6’7 former football player and wrestler represented both the USA U23s and USA Falcons in 2022 before spending two seasons in Super Rugby Americas with the Raptors. He, like Baker, joined the Hounds academy side in 2024.

Another pair of former Raptors are also headed to the Eastern Conference with Old Glory DC. Former DC man John LeFevre will rejoin the Flags following a season in Super Rugby Americas. The Virginia native earned 16 appearances for DC between 2022-2023, scoring his two tries in 11 games (1 start) in 2023. Following John LeFevre to the nation’s capital is Hawaiian flanker Isikeli Kava, who transitioned from the front row to the flank while with the Raptors, where he has played since 2021 and earned a spot on their Super Rugby Americas roster in 2024. the 295lb, 6’2 former football player spent the off-season in Australia with the Gungahlin Eagles in the ACTRU Premier Division. Old Glory DC announced the return of another not entirely new face for 2025, Owen Sheehy. The son of former USA Eagle and OGDC Co-Founder Paul Sheehy, Owen earned 10 starts in 20 games for DC between 2021-2023, recording a career high 533m gained in 11 games in 2022. Sheehy returns after a year working in South America, where he also played in Argentina’s URBA Top 14, an amateur league that has produced a number of MLR players in the past.

Along with confirming their final re-signings, the NOLA Gold unveiled their complete roster for the 2025 campaign. This roster included both of their 2025 MLR Collegiate Draft selections, Aidan King and Dalton Musselman. Australian back row Aidan King was selected 6th Overall by the Gold out of Penn State, and college teammate Dalton Musselman was selected 18th Overall. The Pennsylvanian fly-half will be able to learn from the likes of Dorian Jones and USA Eagle Luke Carty while with the Gold.

Intra-League Moves & Departures

The news of the week, and likely the reason why many of you are reading this article, was the announcement from Rugby FC LA that they had signed reigning MLR Back of the Year Reece MacDonald on a 2yr contract through the 2026 season. This announcement left MLR fans shocked, and New England Free Jacks fans stunned. MacDonald scored 12 tries and 86pts in 30 games (28 starts) for the Free Jacks during their back-to-back Shields from 2023-2024. He recorded 10 tries and a league-high 1,535m gained in 2024 alone, a true career year for the kiwi fullback who now makes the move to the Western Conference. Although MacDonald’s contract with the Free Jacks had expired, New England still held his rights. As a result, Rugby FC LA gave up 2025 Cap Space (unknown) in order to acquire MacDonald’s rights, meaning that this move was technically a trade, but only on paper.

Moving on to departures, Super Rugby Americas teams have been announcing their complete rosters over the last few weeks, and a number of 2024 MLR-ers are heading south. The Miami Sharks will be without Uruguayan playmaker Felipe Etcheverry in 2025, with the 2023 Rugby World Cup player returning to Peñarol. Etcheverry joined Miami from the Uruguayan club for 2024, and scored 3 tries and 73pts for the Sharks in 14 games (13 starts). He now returns to the 2x SRA Champions along with Chicago Hounds hooker Guillermo Pujadas. Another capped Uruguayan who entered MLR from Peñarol in 2024, Pujadas started 2 of his 8 games for the Hounds in 2024 and will also return to the Uruguayan franchise for their 2025 Super Rugby Americas season. Pujadas will join former Hounds teammate and Dallas Jackal Nico Revol Pitt in SRA, with the Argentinian prop signing with Dogos, and former Houston SaberCat and NOLA Gold hooker Diego Fortuny also heading to Super Rugby Americas, signing with the Tarucas for their inaugural SRA season in 2025.

Makene Staying in New Zealand

One final piece of news that NOLA Gold fans should be interested in, Caleb Makene. Following the announcement that Makene would not be returning to the Utah Warriors for 2025, the NOLA Gold announced the signing of the impressive kiwi fullback on November 17th, 2024. NARDB has learned that shortly after this announcement, Makene informed the Gold that he would be staying in New Zealand with his partner as they were expecting their first child. This means that Caleb Makene, who scored 12 tries and 98pts in 44 games for the Utah Warriors between 2022-2024, will not be playing in MLR during the 2025 season. As excuses go, he has a pretty good one and we wish him, his partner, and their child all the best!

In Conclusion…

With Pre-Season camps now underway and MLR rosters all but confirmed, the 2025 season is just around the corner! With that, player announcements are likely to dry up in the next few weeks. These summary articles will continue as long as there is player movement and as we have still heard nothing from Anthem RC, and suspiciously little regarding returning players for the Seattle Seawolves, it is likely there will still be some announcements, but these will likely be more sporadic. Keep an eye on this site and social media for further news.

As always, you can follow NARDB and James across social media to stay up to date on signings as they happen. @MLRStats on Instagram/Threads, @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay and @NARDB on Bluesky! Also, we’re happy to have Rugby Now back for the 2025 season! Visit shopmlr.com to get your hands on that new Macron gear for 2025, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: Dec 30, 2024 – Jan 5, 2025

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Welcome to 2025! Every week these MLR Player Movement Summary articles outline each roster move around Major League Rugby, whether that is a returning player, a new signing, or a departure, so that MLR fans can easily stay up to date on all the off-season activity ahead of the 2025 season. This week’s article covers the week from December 30, 2024 to January 5, 2025 and so, as mentioned already, welcome to 2025!

With pre-season camps opening today (January 6th), it could be assumed that all MLR teams have pretty much finished announcing their 2025 rosters, but considering we still haven’t heard a peep out of Anthem RC, and the Seattle Seawolves haven’t announced a single returning player, it’s likely that player announcements will continue almost right up to opening kick-off on February 15th. Last week saw another relatively quiet week but as with the week before, there is still plenty to discuss. 10 re-signings across 4 teams made up the bulk of the announcements as usual, with an intra-league move and two big names returning to MLR from overseas. As always, we start with the summary graphic and then jump in to the re-signings:

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 30th, 2024 – January 5th, 2025 (Page 1 of 1)

Re-signings

Of the 10 re-signings last week, the NOLA Gold announced four returning back three players for their 2025 roster. Samoan try machine Ed Fidow is back for his second season with the Gold after scoring 5 tries in 7 games for the team in an injury-affected 2024. A 2022 MLR Champion with New York, Fidow has a very impressive 21 tries in his 35 career MLR games with over 3,000m gained with ball in hand. Alongside Fidow will be NOLA Gold veteran Harley Wheeler, who has 8 tries in his 38 games for the club since 2020 (29 starts) and over 150 tackles completed with a high of 84 in 2022. Academy graduate Jack Webster, who can also play centre, returns for a 4th season with the Gold having earned 16 appearances since 2022. Webster also played a game for the Dallas Jackals in 2022 while on short term loan to the Texas team. Last but by no means least for the Gold is impressive rookie Julian Roberts, returning for his sophomore season in New Orleans. Drafted 6th overall by the Gold in 2023 out of Life University, Roberts started 4 of his 11 appearances in 2024, scoring 2 tries and running for over 350m gained in possession.

Staying in the Eastern Conference and heading up to Illinois, the Chicago Hounds announced a returning trio of their own last week. Kansan scrum-half and capped USA Eagle Michael Baska is back for a 3rd year with the Hounds and 7th in MLR. Baska has 8 tries and 46pts in his 58 career games (30 starts), with 10 starts in 22 for Chicago since 2023. Also returning to the Hounds back line is South African fly-half/fullback Kian Meadon for a second year in Chicago after a pair of seasons with the Houston SaberCats. Meadon has 1 try and 37pts in his 11 MLR games since 2022 with a 61% success rate from the tee, but has struggled for game time over the last two seasons with only 2 games in 2023 and 1 in 2024. Although an international player, Meadon will be hoping for some consistent game time in 2025, but will be fighting with Tim Swiel, Adriaan Carelse, and Ben Pollack for games. In the pack, MLR veteran Paddy Ryan returns for his 8th season in the front row, and 3rd with Chicago. One of three players named ‘Paddy Ryan’ to have played in MLR, the Chicago-born Irishman has 8 tries in 71 games (53 starts) since 2018, with over 360 tackles completed and 1,107m gained as a prop.

Heading over to the Western Conference, a pair of depth pieces are returning to Zions Bank in 2025. Former Portland State defensive Lineman Tonga Kofe is back for a second season with the Utah Warriors in 2025. The 6’2, 310lb behemoth earned 6 appearances in 2024, and may be the heaviest player in MLR history. A monster in the front row. Returning to the Warriors’ backline for a third season is local product Sione Mahe, who earned 2 starts in 3 games in 2024 before suffering an ACL injury that sidelined him for much of the year. Heading to California but staying on the subject of injuries, Rugby FC LA announce the return of lock Jurie van Vuuren for a second season in LA, and 6th in MLR. Van Vuuren has scored 9 tries in 55 games (47 starts) since 2020, completing 584 tackles. He spent 4 seasons with the Utah Warriors before joining RFCLA in 2024 where he earned 4 appearances before suffering an injury that rule him out of the majority of the 2024 season.

‘New’ Faces

In this section we typically cover the new players entering MLR from leagues around the world. While that is still the case this week, it’s not strictly true to say that these faces are ‘new’. Both of last week’s signings from leagues outside MLR have already played in Major League Rugby at some point in their careers. Capped USA Eagle Mikey Sosene-Feagai signs with Rugby FC LA for the 2025 season, marking the first time the California-born hooker has played in MLR since 2021. Sosene-Feagai scored 2 tries in 15 games (all starts) for Old Glory DC between 2020-2021 before signing with Toulon in the French Top 14. He signed with Agen in the Pro D2 after a season with Toulon, where he played from 2022-2024.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the NOLA Gold have negotiated a season-loan for regular USA starting 9 Ruben de Haas for 2025. The South African moved with his family from the Western Cape to Arkansas when he was young, and has been a member of the Cheetahs system since 2017. He started 4 of his 6 appearances for the Austin Gilgronis in 2021 before heading to England and playing with Saracens in the Premiership between 2021-2023. De Haas returned to the Cheetahs following his time in the Premiership, playing in the Currie Cup and Challenge Cup. He will return to the Cheetahs once again following the 2025 MLR season.

Intra-League Moves

To wrap things up for this week’s summary article, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of Californian hooker Jackson Zabierek for his sophomore season in 2025. Zabierek was drafted 18th overall by Rugby FC LA in 2023 out of the University of Santa Cruz, but did not sign with RFCLA. Instead, he joined the American Raptors for their 2024 Super Rugby Americas season. Once the Raptors season was over, Zabierek joined the Seattle Seawolves for their 2024 playoff push where he earned 6 appearances. He came off the bench in every playoff game for the Seawolves including the Championship Game against the New England Free Jacks, finishing as MLR runners-up.

In Conclusion

That wraps up this week’s summary article for player announcements around Major League Rugby from last week! We’ve almost made it through the long, dark MLR off-season and with kick-off on MLR 2025 just around the corner, it’s likely that the majority of player announcements are behind us. Anticipate teams making final adjustments to their rosters and possibly some promotions from academy sides, but there may still be a surprise or two in store for us. Another week gone, and still silence from Anthem RC. Pre-Season camps open on January 6th, so I hope they’ve got some idea who will be turning up.

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